Sunday, February 1, 2004

Op Ed

They roast Dean for trivia, brainwash anyone who's stupid enough to watch, and give the Republicans a pass as they lie on their way to war. We seriously need someone who's not in the press to ask the questions. And I'd like to see some approval-rating polls about Russert and Blitzer. Why are these guys so untouchable?

A friend asked me yesterday, If the press is so liberal, why didn't they raise hell when the Bush administration led us to war on lies... or when Bush was elected on suspicious technicalities in the first place?

My short answer: It's not their business. Which is advertising, in most cases.

My longer answer: Because they're in the business of telling stories. And they will control the reporting of "stories" to keep audience interest high. If that means hobbling unwelcome horses in a race — as they clearly did with Howard Dean — that's what they'll do. Craggy, videogenic and Kennedyesque, Kerry was much more The Media's candidate than The People's. Which is why he looks like a winner.

Every vote for Kerry "because he's electable" is a bet on the eventual winner of the "survivor" TV show the Democratic "horserace" was in the first place.

Why the first SCO memorial FUD flinging award may go to the RIAA

Dave Slusher on More Music and RIAA in Evil Genius Chronicles:

Suppose these RIAA lawsuites are a red herring, and they are not ultimately trying to discourage the infringing downloads of RIAA members music. What if this is all about stopping consumers from downloading legitimate, freely distributable music? The RIAA member labels are the big losers in a world without Big Media gatekeepers, so perhaps all this nonsense is really cover for them to associate all downloading of digital music with crime, corruption and badness.

He also points to MacCentral's TuneRecycer takes unwanted winning iTunes/Pepsi codes.

...if you get a cap and don't plan on redeeming it, give the code to them and help out some indie musicians who are attempting to make a go of it without a life of indentured servitude to the major labels.

Speaking of indies, check out Magnatune, an Open Music Experiment, in the February Linux Journal. Magnatune's slogan is "We are not evil." Very interesting reading.

Also shaking

We're moving this week. Expect light blogging.

[Later...] Context: we're moving to the nearby house we've been remodeling. The final date for the move keeps moving back (remodels are like that); but we're still packing boxes and stuff like that in the meantime. You know how it goes.